Homeschooling On A Farm
Micki and David Colfax wrote and talked about how the work and play their boys engaged in on their ranch during the 1970s–80s resulted in their strong academic backgrounds and meaningful work for them as adults (https://wehavekids.com/education/Colfaxboyshomeschool). But most educators would not recommend learning how to care for farm animals, raise food, mend fences, and so on as a well-rounded education. Nonetheless, this is not an uncommon theme in the pages of Growing Without Schooling (GWS). Here’s a brief article from GWS 57 by Lynne Hoffman of Nevada, who wrote in response to N. and K.F., who asked about combining homeschooling with operating a farm (GWS 55):
I find it difficult to imagine a more ideal setting than a family farm for educating children. Yes, there are always many chores and not enough time, but there is no reason why education should be separate from life’s activities, no reason why there should be a difference between work and play.
Here on our family farm, we delight in watching the learning process happen every day. I see no problem in composing an official “curriculum” for toddlers through high schoolers by keeping a log of daily farm activities, which would soon verify that the kids are spending plenty of time on science, history, arithmetic, math, reading, and writing, etc. And each farm project suggests further studies to broaden a kid’s scope—at any age or “grade level.”
I’ve drawn up a chart of common farm chores and checked off which academic subjects each suggests to me. [Susannah Sheffer, editor of GWS, adds: Lynne’s chart includes “plan garden” “plan pond,” and “carpentry” under geometry, “make cheeses” and “freezing” under chemistry, and so on.]
Micki and David Colfax gave a wonderful joint keynote speech at the GWS 20th Anniversary Conference that addresses how they lived and learned with their boys on their ranch. You can watch and listen to their presentation, How Children Learn from Everyday Life and Work, at the Growing Without Schooling YouTube Channel.
